***DISCLAIMER***

*Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and guidelines detailed below.

Although the administrators and moderators of Orbiter-Forum will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of Orbiter-Forum, nor Orbiter Space Flight Simulator will be held responsible for the content of any message.

*The owners of Orbiter-Forum reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.



FORUM RULES & GUIDELINES


1. Creating Topics - If you have a question or problem regarding Orbiter or any addon, you may of course create a new topic, however there are some guidelines that should be considered before posting:

• Try to fix the problem yourself first.
  • If you have a problem, you should try some research to find the answer before creating a new topic. Reading the documentation supplied with Orbiter or the addon, will give a solution in most cases. You may also try a forum search for similar threads that may have already been created.
• Be clear, tell what you've already tried.
  • If you have tried to fix the problem, but couldn't find the answer, don't hesitate to create a new topic. Specify what exactly you've found and where the problem rises.
• Give your topic an appropriate title!!
  • A topic simply titled 'Help' is not tolerated, Be Specific!
• Pay attention to the content of the topic.
  • When you would like to start a discussion, make a clear topic in which you substantiate your opinion or statement. Topics starting with a few words or one liners are not tolerated.
• Place the topic in the right forum.
  • Topics placed in an inappropriate forum will be moved by the moderators.
• You may post only one thread per topic!

2. No Hacking - This should go without saying, but you are not permitted to hack the board. Guessing someone else's password and succeeding counts as hacking. Registering a second user account for trolling or to avoid a ban counts as a violation of this rule as well.

Anyone caught hacking will have their account terminated instantly, without any warnings!



3. No Discrimination - You may not insult members based on their religion, race, sex, country, political beliefs, or whether they are gay or straight. This is worse than flaming, because it also hurts other members of the board who fall into the category you insult. Orbiter-Forum is a place where everyone is equal, and discrimination will NOT be tolerated!



4. No Personal Attacks - Please be advised that we have a zero tolerance policy on personal attacks, this also includes discrimination listed above as well as country bashing. Also, maintaining a consistently negative attitude or sarcastic tone towards other members can serve as justification for penalties as well. This is to prevent any members who wish to bring down other forum members while still refraining from blatant personal attacks. Attitudes such as this will not be tolerated.



5. No Trolls or Flame Baiting - An "Internet Troll" or "Forum Troll" is someone who inspires flaming rhetoric, someone who is purposely provoking and pulling people into a flaming discussion and can also be described as maintaining a consistently negative attitude. Flaming harms the nice atmosphere of Orbiter-Forum, causes thread's to go off topic, and most importantly, it hurts the person being flamed and will NOT be tolerated. Lately we've had some people test us on this policy. The staff have been more than fair with everyone and has tried to avoid over policing discussions. Since it seems this policy is being tested more often now the staff will begin handing out infractions and account suspensions more swiftly to avoid a down fall of this community.

• Make no mistake about it, we will not hesitate to take quick action against anyone who wishes to test this policy!
• If a discussion is getting hot and a flame war appears to be starting, it would be wise to avoid it all together or risk the consequences.
• Members trolling/flame baiting others will receive a warning or infraction promptly. Failure to follow a staff members first warning and or infraction for such behavior may result in an automatic account suspension!
• The administrators will be looking into each case when an account suspension is given to determine if an account termination is necessary. We absolutely will not tolerate this behavior leading to the same type of negative atmosphere many remember from the old forum.

6. No Bullying New Members - Do not pick on new members of the forum or Orbiter. The worst kind of bullying is where new members are picked on. This hurts the member as well as the board. We were all new at one time or another, so lets try and be as friendly, patient, and helpful as possible.



7. No Profanity or Obscene Content - Such content does not belong on Orbiter-Forum. A censor system is in place as a backup. If you see words in your post being replaced with ****, you have done something wrong. Please edit your post and tone it down or risk possible penalties if others report your post as inappropriate or if the moderators feel it's inappropriate. Cheating the censor system is against the rules.

*Directing profanity at another member will be considered a personal attack and will be handled accordingly.



8. No Illegal Activity - You are not allowed to break the law using Orbiter-Forum. This can get O-F into legal trouble. This includes posting links and discussions to illegal content such as music, movies, games, software, etc. Any illegal material or discussions posted will be removed by the moderators.



9. No Topic Bumping - If you have the last post in a thread and 24 hours has not yet passed before you post in the thread again, then the forum will automatically merge your double posts with your previous post and display the time and date the new post was added. The thread will also be bumped automatically, shown as updated with a new post.

• You are not allowed to double post to simply bump a topic.
• If you need to include more information or simply post another reply to the topic at hand you may do so.
• Anyone posting to simply *bump* a topic to the top of the new posts list will receive a warning or infraction from the staff!

10. No Spamming - Spamming is also not allowed, and is defined as a thread, post, or PM advertising a product, service, or website in which a user joined specifically to promote. Spam posts are also defined as random, off-topic comments that have no meaning. Members may post random, off-topic comments ONLY in the 'Random Comments' thread which is located in the Off-Topic forum, however users may not join only to spam a product, service, or website.

Any user caught registering with the sole intent of spamming advertisements via posts or PM will be permanently banned and the post(s) will be deleted!

Persistent, random, one-liner, off-topic threads and posts (also known as spam) will be merged with the 'Random Comments' thread or moved to the trash can, depending on the content. You may receive a warning or infraction as well. If you continue posting spam comments anywhere but the Random Comments thread then an account suspension or termination may result!



11. No Excessive Posting - You are not allowed to post excessively to simply increase your post count. Anyone caught spamming the boards with a bunch of unnecessary threads and posts will receive a warning the first time and if they continue an account suspension and possibly account termination may result! Keep your posts productive and on topic.



12. No Harassing the Staff About Warnings or Infractions - The staff are only trying to do their job and often times have to make difficult decisions. If you receive a warning or infraction from a staff member and harass them about it in public OR in a PM (private message), then you may have your account suspended! If you continue to maintain a negative attitude with the staff then we will not hesitate to completely terminate your account and enforce an ip ban! *Any disputes against a warning or infraction must be taken up with Coolhand or Tex, not the staff member who issued it.



13. No Posting Personal Info - We would prefer members did not post their personal info such as last name, street address, or phone number on Orbiter-Forum. This is because this information then becomes accessible to anyone. Moderators will remove addresses and phone numbers if found posted in a public forum, however they will not remove your last name if you insist on posting it.

• Addon developers may post a members last name to give them appropriate credits if necessary for copyright reasons.
• Posting another members personal info in a public forum OTHER than their last name is absolutely NOT allowed and could result in an automatic account termination!

14. Signatures & Avatar Rules:

• Avatars with inappropriate material are not allowed! This includes profanity and nude photos of any kind!
• You may post any image of your choice via URL for your signature, however inappropiate material will not be accepted.
• Members are allowed to post banners for other Orbiter related sites.

Signature images can be no larger than: 500x150!



**Failure to follow these rules will result in a verbal warning and or infraction being applied to your account**

• Any disputes against any warning or infraction needs to be taken up with Coolhand or Tex
• Depending on the severity of the offense a direct suspension or termination may result!
• Review THIS announcement for more information about the infraction system and how it works.